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Jamileh

Seeing her perform live is a greater treat. What a performance! To say she was a good dancer is to undermine a great artist. she was a great entertainer! The amazing thing is that, other than the addition of a few pounds, her dancing did not changed in three decades, and her hair...wow still gorgeous. Her mixture of performing repertoire -- belly-dance (called raqs-e arabi), and Persian dance has been essentially the same as in that 30-year-old video.

In a performance at Cabaret Tehran, for example, she began her set with raqs-e arabi to a well-known Egyptian composition, wearing a standard cabaret costume of pink and silver. Weaving her way through the audience, she played with them, dancing on chairs and tables, making them laugh. She returned to the stage and spoke to the audience in Persian, welcoming them, expressing the wish that they have a good time, and telling a few jokes, some of them about herself. After introducing the musicians, she began a quick series of traditional Iranian dances: a brief jâheli bit, followed by Qâssemâbâdi, and finishing with bandari. She left the stage and quickly returned with her hair pulled back and wearing the Kolah makhmali.

The jâheli style is perhaps the most unusual Persian dance style, not understood by any other culture. First of all, she wears this fedora and dances in a very masculine manner, her arms held straight, without the characteristic wrist turns of women’s dance. Then, there is “the lip thing”, a shimmy of the lower lip that looks most peculiar to the uninitiated. What is this all about? I have heard several explanations of the lip “shimmy”, ranging from that it is how a woman looks as she is about to cry, and that it is also imitative of orgasm. Whatever its origins and meanings, it is always a big hit with the Iranians in the crowd (others are always completely perplexed by it!), and one of the gestures that was made popular by her. Jâheli dance is part of an Iranian sub-culture that has its origins in 9th and 10th century, a period when eastern Iran especially suffered under the incursions of Turkic and Mongol tribes seeking pasturage and pillage. Local, informal constabularies were formed to protect each town or village. The men of these groups, called jâhel (Ignorant), along with their women, developed a group culture with an interesting mixture of street smarts and spirituality. The kolah makhmali is kind of a symbol of the jâhel man (somewhat analogous to pinstripe suits and 1930’s gangsters in the U.S.). In Jamileh’s dance, she is a jâheli woman imitating a jâheli man’s “tough-guy” style of dance; it is also more suggestive and overtly erotic than more traditional “classical” Persian dance. [ame="http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ5gFMFgIy8"]YouTube - Jamileh Raghs[/ame]

After the 1905 constitutional revolution in Iran, Iranian traditional performing arts -- dance in particular -- fell out of favor with many Iranians. This was due to the desire to imitate not only western-style democracy, but also to adopt western-style culture, as though the latter could help bring about the former. Persian dance was looked upon as a degenerate art form -- the province of prostitutes -- and decidedly inferior to western forms of dance, such as ballet. Whether you like her dancing or not, Jamileh is important as either a social reformer, rehabilitating Persian dance and making it acceptable for Iranian audiences, or as a reflection of an increasing acceptance of Iranian traditional arts. With her appearances on television in Iran thirty and more years ago, Jamileh brought Persian dance “out of the closet” and into the public eye, where it was again appreciated for its beauties and charm.

Raqs-e Jamileh Video

There is a video available from Pars Video that features all of her dance styles. This video is mostly from Jamileh’s television appearances in the late 1960s and early 1970s, a time period clearly reflected by the bell-bottomed costuming and men’s haircuts. At this time, westernization in Iran was at its peak among the upper classes; many Iranians had by then been educated abroad, and while Iranian traditional arts were making their comeback, it was still very fashionable in those circles to imitate the dress and culture of Europe and the United States (in these days of “Iran-bashing” in the U.S. and “U.S.-bashing” in Iran, it is instructive to remember how much interest in and goodwill towards the U.S. existed in Iran just a few years ago).

Bandari, Jâheli,Persian Classical, or whatever dance she did was with class and absolute confidence...and her love for her audience. We love you Jamileh.

This one is just for good measure...lol
[ame="http://es.youtube.com/watch?v=7XbDo3kWm68"]YouTube - persian girl dancing and singing beautifuly wooooooow[/ame]

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
I would be friend of all—the foe—the friendless;
I would be giving and forget the gift;
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up and laugh—and love—and lift.
Howard Walterhttp://www.farsinet.com/poetry/images/poemvatn.gif

I would be true, for there are those who trust me;
I would be pure, for there are those who care;
I would be strong, for there is much to suffer;
I would be brave, for there is much to dare.
I would be friend of all—the foe—the friendless;
I would be giving and forget the gift;
I would be humble, for I know my weakness;
I would look up and laugh—and love—and lift.
Howard Walterhttp://www.farsinet.com/poetry/images/poemvatn.gif